Pat Leahy and Naomi O’Leary join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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As the day drew to a close in Israel on Tuesday, exit polls in the Knesset election suggested a lead for the bloc of parties opposing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

As the sun rose and official counts were declared a very different picture emerged showing a slender lead for Netanyahu’s bloc.

On today’s podcast, Hugh asks our contributor in Jerusalem, Mark Weiss, to explain where things stand as counting continues.

That lead enjoyed by the prime minister “changes the entire political picture”, he says.

A strong performance by parties representing Israel’s Arab citizens has come at the expense of smaller anti-Netanyahu parties, making it harder for some opposition groups to clear the electoral threshold and enter the Knesset.

“This has played into Netanyahu’s hands”, says Weiss.

Another long protracted negotiation looks likely but the leading opposition figure, Gadi Eisenkot, has already ruled out forming a government with the Israeli Arabs.

The question is will Netenyahu secure enough support to begin another term, or might another election be looming?

The answer is unlikely to come anytime soon.

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Declan Conlon and JJ Vernon.

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It is one week out from US midterm elections with Democrats hoping to retake control of both the House of Representatives and the powerful Senate. Journalist and podcaster Galen Druke returns to Inside Politics to talk to Hugh Linehan about the state of play.

They look at the overall picture in the House of Representatives, which Democrats need just three seats to retake. Polls show that is likely but gerrymandering could limit their gains.

And they look at the contest for the governorship of Ohio, where one particularly egregious attack ad has drawn a backlash.

Plus: what the midterms can and can't tell us about the 2028 race to succeed Donald Trump, and how Galen's new podcast reunites a beloved old team.

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Pat Leahy and Sarah Burns join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Plus the panelists pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week including Kathy Sheridan on the enduring role of the Catholic funeral, Justine McCarthy on Andy Burnham “declaring war” on inconsiderate commuters and Fintan O’Toole on antisemitism.

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The scenes at Drumcree in recent weeks revived memories of one of Northern Ireland’s most enduring disputes between unionist and nationalist communities.

But while the immediate controversy centred on a short stretch of road in Portadown, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who has spearheaded the campaign to secure a return of Orange Order members to the largely nationalist Garvaghy Road, believes the implications reach much further than a single parade.

On today’s podcast, Bryson tells Hugh that the unionist tradition has been “under siege” for decades and argues that it is time to “go on the offensive”.

“We’ve constantly been on the defensive and, in my view, that has emboldened an ever more aggressive nationalist push in terms of advancing their culture and their objectives,” he says.

Bryson has long been at the centre of debates over identity and culture in Northern Ireland. He came to prominence during the protests that followed Belfast City Council’s decision to limit the flying of the Union flag at City Hall, demonstrations that were marked by significant unrest.

More recently, he has been a vocal opponent of Irish-language policies and the introduction of dual-language street signs in parts of Belfast, which he argues have been imposed on unionist communities.

The Drumcree controversy, he says, reflects a broader struggle over culture and identity. “We’re going to do to you what you have done to us,” he says.

Bryson insists the ultimate objective is not dominance by either tradition. “Nationalists are not going to dominate unionists, and unionists are not going to dominate nationalists” he says.

“Eventually we will all come to the table once we’ve fought each other to exhaustion in a culture war”.

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Andrew McNair and JJ Vernon.

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Democracy rests on the promise that political institutions should reflect the people they serve. But in an era of growing social diversity, persistent inequalities and political polarisation, that promise is being contested.

On today’s podcast, Hugh heads to the Royal Irish Academy to speak to Pauline Cullen, Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University and Tània Verge Mestre, former Equalities Minister in the Catalan government in Spain.

Verge Mestre highlights the gender quota’s introduced in Spain in 2007 requiring political parties to have no less than 40% of either gender represented in its candidates.

Cullen said “we have some of the most imaginative forms of governance across Europe”.

“When we think about diversity in an Irish context and we think about gender equality, migrant integration, or traveller rights, we silo them in different government departments and we give them different funding streams” she added.

“We don’t create the conditions to think about these things in a joined up way”.

So how can politics be more representative? And why is Ireland lagging behind international comparisons?

Presented by Hugh Linehan. Produced by Andrew McNair and JJ Vernon.

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Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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Leinster House today was filled with sympathy for Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan who took ill during an EU presidency meeting in Limerick on Tuesday.

On today’s podcast Hugh speaks to Irish Times political editor Pat Leahy and political correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones about the mood in the Dáil.

Fellow politicians “understand the stresses and challenges” of the job, Pat said.

They also discuss today’s public sector strike and the likelihood of another next Wednesday.

“Both sides have staked out their territory” said Pat.

“The government has shown its willing to let people go out on strike, the unions have shown their prepared to go on strike” he added.

Unions say the threat of larger scale walk outs in the dispute over the public sector pay deal aren’t off the table.

Jack Horgan-Jones said “generationally no one in politics or the unions has dealt with something of this scale before”.

He added, ”though we haven’t reached the point of confronting what a full scale public sector and civil service walk out would look like and the disruption it would cause”.

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In less than a month US voters will get a chance to express their feelings about the direction of the country in elections for seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate. While president Donald Trump is not on the ballot, his unpopularity is weighing his party down. Polls show a "blue wave" looks likely, with Democrats favoured to win back the House and possibly the Senate. But many races are still very close. Washington correspondent Keith Duggan has been visiting some of the key battlegrounds to find out about the candidates and the issues.

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Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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Ireland is politically and economically stable, as Simon Harris pointed out in his Budget speech yesterday. But keeping it that way is getting more expensive. Increased capital spending, increased day-to-day spending, tax cuts - yesterday’s Budget delivered the lot. Is this sustainable, with our reliance on multinational tax receipts? Or wise, with our healthy level of economic growth? To look at the big picture, Hugh and Pat are joined by Barra Roantree of Trinity College Dublin.

Barra Roantree is an Assistant Professor in Economics at TCD.

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Last year Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor co-authored an essay in The Guardian with a provocative title: The Rise of End Times Fascism. In it they argued that a new alliance was emerging on the political right, made up of Christian fundamentalists, Silicon Valley billionaires and hardline ethnonationalists, bound together by a vision of the end of the world as we know it in which only they would survive.

That essay has now become a book, End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World.

On today’s podcast Klein and Taylor talk to Hugh Linehan about their thesis and why they believe the term fascism is justified. What do they believe unites believers in the Rapture, cynical tech oligarchs and the far right? And how should the rest of us fight back against those whom Klein and Taylor call “traitors to creation”?

Naomi Klein is the author of many books including No Logo, The Shock Doctrine and Doppelgänger. Astra Taylor is a documentary filmmaker, co-founder of the Debt Collective, a union for debtors which emerged out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and author of The Age of Insecurity.

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The mood music around Leinster House this week is one of “nashing teeth” ahead of what’s expected to be a difficult budget announcement on Tuesday.

On today’s podcast, Hugh speaks to our political correspondents Jack Horgan-Jones and Cormac McQuinn who describe a “cold hard reality” that may be to come as government ministers feel they may not get the money they were hoping for.

And its understood Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has been “frosty” with cabinet colleagues asking for more money for their departments.

All this under the shadow of overrun budgets in education and health, and a failure to agree a public sector pay deal which threatens industrial action the likes of which we haven’t seen for 17 years.

We also ask how the row over an Orange Order parade permitted down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Co. Armagh lays bare the political divisions which have been “frozen in time” since the Belfast Agreement in 1998.

And we pay tribute to our esteemed colleague and parliamentary sketch writer Miriam Lord who retired this week.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week; A shift to the right in European politics; Mark Zuckerbergs cash gift to a GAA club in Waterford; and the fallout over Ireland’s nations league clash against Israel.

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Sinn Fein emerged from 2020's general election in pole position to challenge Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and potentially take power next time around. That didn't happen, with support ebbing away as a series of events, both internal and external, shook the party's confidence. That's the picture painted by Siobhán Fenton, a journalist who worked in Sinn Féin's press office from 2020 to 2024, in her book Ourselves Alone.

Hugh interviews Siobhán about why she joined Sinn Fein and what she learned about the inner workings of a cross-border party. They look back on a series of missteps made by the party and its leader Mary Lou McDonald, including the response to the 2023 Dublin riot and McDonald's gaffe when speaking to Pat Leahy on Inside Politics about reducing the price of houses.

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Today anxiety over how the digital world has evolved is greater than ever. Trust in information found online is low, the business models driving tech platforms reward outrage over wellbeing and vast power lies in the hands of a few oligarchs. The arrival of AI may bring even greater problems. But what can be done?

On today's podcast Hugh interviews Mark Little about his book The Last Good Day on the Internet. Little is a former RTÉ correspondent, the founder of Storyful and co-founder with Aine Kerr of Kinzen. He has also had roles with Twitter and Spotify.

Part memoir, part work of philosophy, part rethinking of how the internet has developed over the last 20 years, Little's thoughtful book prescribes some solutions for our current predicaments.

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Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping lands in Washington later this evening for a three-day state visit, his first to Washington since 2015. The Trump White House is rolling out the red carpet and laying on the full ceremonial treatment for a leader who currently still faces American tariffs, sanctions and export controls. Irish Times China correspondent Dennis Staunton joins Hugh from Hong Kong to explain what both men want out of the meeting and what it will tell us about the balance of power between the world's two superpowers. They also talk about the race for AI supremacy and China's economic challenges.

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Anthony Scaramucci is a successful Wall Street financier, a recovering Republican, a famously short-lived communications director in the first Trump administration and co-presenter with Katty Kay of The Rest is Politics US. His new book All the Wrong Moves chronicles his time within the Maga movement and diagnoses where America took a wrong turn. He talks to Hugh about three “catastrophic” policy errors he believes gave rise to the populist anger that propelled Trump to power.

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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Derek Scally talks to Hugh about the aftermath of two elections that have recently taken place: the Swedish general election and regional elections in the Gerrman region of Saxony-Anhalt. Each offers some fascinating insights into current trends and future directions in Germany and Scandinavia, and perhaps more broadly in Europe.  

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Left-leaning think-tank Tasc has published a new reportto mark its 25th year.

the report (The State We Are In - Inequality in Ireland 2026) suggests that the redistribution of wealth via the tax system is struggling to keep inequality under control and argues for greater provision of services.

It also warns that the rapid development of artificial intelligence could deepen inequality in Ireland and around the world.

Tasc director Dr Shana Cohen talks to Hugh about her organisation's history, the new report and the peculiarities that give rise to Ireland's high pre-tax inequality and its precarious wealth. They also talk about the impact of AI.

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President Trump and his vast, costly entourage have rolled through Dublin on the way to his golf course, meeting with the Taoiseach and President Connolly along the way. As with other recent encounters between representatives of the State and Trump, there were no major diplomatic incidents for Irish officials to worry about. But Trump did ruffle some feathers with his comments on Irish reunification. "The Weave", as Trump calls his signature style of oratory, was on full display, by turns baffling, witty and terrifying.

Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones were present at the various set-pieces and they join Hugh to recap on a colourful day.

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Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

And finally the panel pick their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week. 

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Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers talks to Jack Horgan-Jones about pre-Budget negotiations, HSE overspending, childcare, infrastructure and more.

He reveals that he intends to strip power over day-to-day spending from four HSE regions in response to what he describes as a "really poor performance" when it comes to controlling costs.

He also responds to critical comments reportedly made by Cabinet colleagues over his unwillingness to grant their spending wishes.

Then Hugh and Jack analyse the Minister's comments.

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British journalist Paul Mason talks to Hugh about his new book Reds: A Global History of Communism.

The book traces communism’s story from early human egalitarian impulses to modern China’s controlled capitalist system. 

Mason talks to Hugh about what drew him to Trotskyism as a young man, his current politics as a left-wing social democrat and his concerns about democracy under threat. He explains his own break with Corbynism. 

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Pat Leahy and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Labour’s annual think-in is happening in Galway and Pat is there to find out what the party is thinking up. The mood is positive. But with the rival Soc Dems riding high, Labour faces an uncertain future.

One new measure being proposed by party finance spokesman Ged Nash is a €100 “shopping supplement” targeted at families over the winter months. Expect many more such proposals between now and Budget Day.

Ireland’s skies and seas are being monitored by France and the UK while we hold the EU presidency. The Triple Lock, with legislation due to move through the Dáil, is a more pressing political issue - but the question of our meagre defence budget is another that will not go away. 

We still don’t have much detail on US president Donald Trump’s imminent visit to Dublin, but it seems the majority of his time will be spent at Trump Doonbeg or within the confines of the Phoenix Park. Opportunities for diplomacy may be limited by the fact that the trip is largely a US-taxpayer-funded marketing exercise for a golf course. But there are still risks and opportunities. 

Across the Irish Sea a Channel 4 News sting has exposed senior Reform UK officers allegedly scheming to get around campaign finance laws. The report dropped just in time to spoil the party’s conference and will add to the existing whiff of financial scandal around Nigel Farage’s political project. How much did Farage himself know and what impact will it have? 

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times stories of the week.

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In his new novel A Nation Once Again, Paul Howard, best known for the Ross O'Carroll Kelly series, turns his satirical eye from wealthy South Dublin to an imaginary government department devoted to preparing for the reunification of Ireland. He talks to Hugh about how the concept allowed him to explore both the absurdity of the border's existence and the ridiculousness of trying to remove it

They discuss the book’s origins as a sitcom, how his experience as a child in Ireland with an English accent (Howard's family returned to Ireland when he was eight) helped him develop an ear for phonetic quirks and why Ireland's Call may be the perfect anthem for a United Ireland.

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Hugh, Pat, Ellen and Jack took to the stage at Electric Picnic on Saturday to discuss politics and take some uestions from the audience. They discussed UK prime minister Andy Burnham's controversial comments on the possibility of a border poll before moving on to take stock of the political positions and futures of the Big Three party leaders: Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Here's an excerpt of their conversation.

Thanks to Electric Picnic and MindField for having us.

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Power join Pat Leahy to look back on the week in politics:

·      All 27 EU foreign ministers will gather in Druids Glen in Wicklow next week for a “Gymnich” meeting. What is that you ask, it is characterised as a more informal chat with no expectation of any hard decisions being made. The lull of August will now give way to a hectic calendar culminating in difficult choices around the next seven-year EU budget.

·      Andy Burnham made his first visit to Northern Ireland this week as UK prime minister. He raised eyebrows with his assertion that a Border poll is “off the table”. This won’t please Sinn Féin given the money and energy they are putting into making a vote on a united Ireland a reality.  

·      The Dáil sat briefly on Friday, where, among other topics of debate, it decided to vote against fuel price increases. The Government now further defers clawing back the cuts in excise taxes it announced earlier in the summer for two more months. Can it continue to shield the public from increasing fuel costs beyond November?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·      The unifying power of the late Dolly Parton, Scouting Ireland’s future, and CIA chief visits Moscow to urge a Ukraine war deal.

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Pat Leahy is joined by Ellen Coyne and Liz Carolan to talk about the response to the circumstances around the recent fatal M9 motorway crash. They examine Coimisiún na Meán’s response and the powers it has under the EU Digital Services Act, and the refusal of Tiktok to appear before a Dail committee. They consider proposals like making joyriding videos illegal and weigh up concerns about free speech and enforceability. 

In part two: the Government has u-turned on whether to pay for Skyclarys, a drug that treats Friedreich's ataxia, a rare neurodegenerative disease. Why did it take so long? 

Liz Carolan is a journalist, author and consultant. She writesThe Briefing, a newsletter about technology and politics.

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Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week, including the decline in number of Catholic baptisms in Ireland, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate leading the polls in Saxony-Anhalt election and the ridiculousness of “Woke 1.0”.

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There is deep support in Ireland for the Palestinian cause. But why? And is Ireland truly an outlier in its attitudes to Palestine and Israel? 

Academics Miceal Canavan and Liam Kneafsey surveyed over 1,500 people to gauge attitudes, investigate the origins of this support and ask whether anti-Semitism plays a role. 

Their findings include that Irish people have the highest pro-Palestinian sympathy in Western Europe and that we assign unusually high importance to the conflict despite no direct ethnic, economic or military link. 

They test explanations for this, including ideology, party support and perceptions of Irish historical oppression as a heuristic and emotional framework. 

Anti-Semitism is also examined. It exists, but does not explain our outlier sympathies, their data suggest. 

They talk to Hugh Linehan about their paper and how they interpret what they’ve discovered. 

Miceal Canavan is a lecturer in Politics & International Studies at Ulster University. Liam Kneafsey is an assistant professor in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin.

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Jack Horgan-Jones and Ellen Coyne join Hugh to look back on the week in politics:

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Hugh Linehan and Pat Leahy close their series on the PDs. In 1997 the party runs a disastrous campaign, falling from 10 seats to four. But they still enter government with Fianna Fáil, with Mary Harney their sole cabinet minister.

Their real influence comes through Charlie McCreevy, effectively a PD inside Fianna Fáil, whose close friendship with Harney drives a tax-cutting agenda during the boom years.

Facing wipeout in 2002, Michael McDowell rescues them with a Ranelagh lamppost stunt and an ingenious slogan. But the next term in government is less successful.

McDowell takes the leadership in 2006 just as the Mahon Tribunal investigates Bertie Ahern. Why does he choose to stay in coalition rather than pull the plug?

The 2007 election reduces the PDs to two seats. Does the party have another fightback in them? 

Finally Pat and Hugh deliver their verdict on the Progressive Democrats and ask where that centre-right energy now resides in the Irish political scene. 

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In the second of three episodes on the rise and fall of the Progessive Democrats, Hugh and Pat pick up the story on the eve of the 1987 general election with the PDs riding a wave of energy and Fianna Fail's Charles Haughey chasing the overall majority that always eluded him.

The party's first outing at the polls is a triumph: 12 per cent of the vote, 14 seats and third place ahead of Labour, much of it carved out of a collapsing Fine Gael. Haughey falls two seats short. Without O'Malley's new party, would he finally have had his majority?

Instead, a minority Fianna Fáil government, propped up by Fine Gael's "Tallaght Strategy", embarks on savage spending cuts and commits to tax cuts, policies the PDs demanded.

The PDs' successes bring a problem: when your opponents adopt your programme, what are you for? By 1989 the party is squeezed from both sides and in the next election it slumps to six seats. But again, no party wins a majority. This time the solution brings the PDs to power, changing Irish politics forever.

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Today Hugh and Pat embark on a deep dive into the history of a political party that, despite its small size, had an enormous and lasting impact on Ireland.

Born of the dire economic and political realities of 1980s Ireland, the Progressive Democrats, or PDs, spent half of their 23-year existence in power despite never having more than a handful of TDs - and sometimes far fewer. Under successive leaders Des O'Malley, Mary Harney and Michael McDowell, the party used that power to fight for lower taxes and economic liberalisation, reshaping the Irish political landscape along the way. But despite their outsized impact, the PDs could not survive.

In the first of three episodes Pat traces the birth of the party to the misery of mid-80s Ireland, the enmity between Fianna Fail leader Charles Haughey and prickly, clever Des O'Malley, a natural leader and a Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick. 

In a controversy emblematic of 1980s Ireland, O’Malley was expelled from Fianna Fáil over the issue of contraception, ridding Haughey of a problem - or so he thought. But what followed was the emergence of a new political force that would threaten Ireland's sclerotic two-and-a-half party system.

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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Narendra Modi’s 12 year rule of India has never looked so fragile.

Weeks of protests have engulfed the country following the leak of a medical entrance exam paper, which forced nearly two million students to resit the test. Protestors hailed victory from the resignation of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday.

On today’s podcast, Hugh asks our contributor in New Delhi, Rahul Bedi, to explain the significance of the movement.

What had fanned the flames, he said, was the description of unemployed young people as “cockroaches” by one senior government minister.

Then, out of the ootheca hatched the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical movement that has channelled the frustrations of millions of young Indians who, in the words of Bedi, believe the country is increasingly dominated by corruption, privilege and vested interests.

They’re not alone.

Farmers have again been protesting at the state of the rural economy. And another campaign has emerged against the government’s ethanol-blended fuel policy, with some motorists arguing that petrol containing 20% ethanol reduces fuel efficiency and may damage engines.

Bedi explains what these large movements mean for the strength and future of the Narendra Modi administration. 

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Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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Returning to the podcast today is UK political commentator, broadcaster and author Iain Dale to talk to Hugh about the arrival of Andy Burnham as prime minister and the death of Iain's friend Ann Widdecombe.

Burnham's excellence as a communicator and a political salesman means there's a strong contrast between him and his predecessor. But after being swept to office unopposed, it's not yet clear what he is offering to the British public. How will he handle issues like immigration, defence and the economy, and what have we learned from his cabinet picks?

In part two: The killing of Ann Widdecombe has shaken British politics. Despite disagreeing with many of her convictions, Iain and the former Conservative MP had a close relationship. He talks about her life, her views, the growing threat politicians perceive to their safety and the role of social media in coarsening political debate and encouraging extremism.

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Michel Barnier is best known in Ireland for his central role in the EU's negotiations with the UK over Brexit almost ten years ago. But Barnier has also played a central role in French politics for decades, including a brief stint as prime minister. Today he is a member of the French parliament.

Last week he was in Dublin for a series of political meetings with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee and other senior figures, and on Wednesday Hugh interviewed him at Europe House, the European Commission's Dublin base, in front of an audience.

Their conversation ranged from Barnier's first political awakening as a teenager in the 1960s through to his verdict on Brexit 10 years after the referendum, figures like Nigel Farage who led the UK out of the EU, the rise of France's far right and the prospects for the French presidential election which takes place in April of next year.

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Harry McGee and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

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As the Dáil shuts down for the summer it's time for Hugh, Pat and Jack to take stock of the term gone by. But the biggest political event of the year didn't happen in Leinster House. The April fuel protests left their mark on Irish politics as few other events of recent years have.

In part two: How have the various parties navigated the term? Has Mary Lou McDonald steadied the SF ship, and could a forthcoming book by a former party insider cause renewed problems? Can the Social Democrats maintain their recent momentum? Has Simon Harris dialled down his high-energy approach to politics? And when Harris rotates back into the taoiseach's office next year, will Micheal Martin still be the man he’ll take over from? 

Finally: Martin has repeatedly said this Government will be about results, delivery and substance. But will there be enough of that to satisfy voters? On the cost of living issue in particular, the challenge is steep - even with the next election a long way off.

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Last week an appeals court opened the way for Marine Le Pen of French far-right party National Rally to stand in next year's presidential election. If the far right comes to power in Paris it will be the culmination of a long journey that is outlined in The Dark Side of France: A History of the Far Right, a new book by Irish journalist Enda O’Doherty. 

Hugh talks to O’Doherty about his book and what a Le Pen victory would mean. They discuss tensions within National Rally between economically liberal conservatism and its working-class base and trace the far right’s roots from the Dreyfus Affair and antisemitism through Action Française, Vichy collaboration, the Algeria crisis and how Marine’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen built up National Rally, then called Front National.

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Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       Sinn Féin’s Planning for Constitutional Change Bill, which obliges the Government to draft and publish a Green Paper on unification within 18 months, failed to win support from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, or independents.  

·       All Government TDs also voted against a PBP Bill to ban hare coursing. The Bill presented an issue where the party whip could have been spared in favour of a free vote, given the public’s clear support to outlaw the practice. The Bill was overwhelmingly defeated by 125 votes to 24.

·       And this week saw Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and far-right French leader Marine Le Pen take the biggest political gambles of their respective careers.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Graham Platner crashes and burns, dwindling swag bags for visiting journalists, and the derelict ‘Carlton’ site on O’Connell Street is snapped up by MetroLink.

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For Germany, football is often a reflection of the nations’ stability.

“When Germany is going well, things are going well on the pitch” Irish Times Berlin correspondent Derek Scally tells the Inside Politics podcast.

Following another premature exit from a world cup tournament they won only 12 years ago; in football, as in German politics, the future is uncertain.

Host Hugh Linehan asks where the major fault lines are in the upcoming federal elections in September. Elections, Scally explains, that are likely to be won by the far-right party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) bar any major shifts.

“Establishment parties are seen as lacking ideas and energy” Scally says. “The sense of a government exhausting its political potential seems to be a general agreement around Berlin”.

Europe’s biggest economy is vulnerable on a number of fronts. It relies on Chinese manufacturing for its automotive sector, while facing major competition from increasingly popular, often cheaper, Chinese car makers.

Though the Christian Democrats’ Fredrick Merz has only been Chancellor for a year, “frustration” and “fatigue” are already creeping into public sentiment, Scally says.

Could his 34-point plan announced last week, including pension reforms, tax cuts, and business deregulation, turn things around? 

Produced by Andrew McNair

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British MP Nigel Farage has resigned as an MP triggering a by-election in the constituency of Clacton-on-Sea which he says he will stand in.

It comes amid a row over his financial support, after The Sunday Times reported he had not declared benefits, including staff and security, received from his ally George Cottrell, who was convicted of fraud in the US.

“I’ve done nothing wrong” Farage said on a live stream provided by his UK Reform party and broadcast on British news channels.

Hugh speaks to our London Correspondent Mark Paul in the moments after the speech about what this move represents for British politics, and what happens next.

Produced by Andrew McNair. 

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Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union got off to a slightly awkward start at the opening ceremony at Dublin Castle on Wednesday when guest Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned against “material emanating from a plant in Ireland” being used in Russia’s war effort. The Ukrainian president didn’t name Aughinish Alumina, but his feelings were clear.

·       Dozens of solicitors walked out of District Court rooms on Wednesday in protest against a new pay system for legal aid. This marked an escalation in tensions with Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan who has pushed the reform through.

·       The Government are not going to act on Oireachtas committee recommendations on the decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use.

·       And as the United States celebrates its 250th birthday, how has the country lived up to the principals and aspirations of its founding fathers?

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Hugh Linehan is joined by Alex Kane to discuss the double life of disgraced politician Jeffrey Donaldosn and its broader impact on the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as well as Ulster unionism overall. 

Alex Kane is an Irish News columnist and a political commentator as well as a former director of communications for the Ulster Unionist Party. The pair discuss a recent wave of stories that reveal the hypocritical behaviour of self-professed christian Donaldson over the course of his career; from projectile vomiting on the Mayor of Beijing to swigging from a wine bottle in the House of Commons and being spotted entering a gay sauna.  

Kane says it seems as if no one in the DUP attempted to address this highly inappropriate behaviour. He also highlights a growing conspiracy theory among unionists who believe the British government may have used this information to blackmail Donaldson to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly.  

In today’s episode, they discuss what all of this spells for the future of unionism in Ulster.  

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Last week Pat Leahy sat down with former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte for an interview about his life in politics. 

Rabbitte is now retired but for decades he was one of the most recognisable faces and voices of centre left politics in Ireland. 

As a minister in the 2011 Fine Gael-Labour coalition, he witnessed first hand the events explored in our recent mini series on the subject.

He talked about the decisions he made as party leader and as a minister, as well as his formative years in the west of Ireland and 1960s America, and what he thinks of today’s splintered centre-left.

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Harry McGee and Cormac McQuinn join Pat Leahy to look back on the week in politics:

All anyone can talk about this week is the weather. While the country enjoys the warmth, the Government still has to find balance between spending to prevent climate change and spending to mitigate the impact of change that has already arrived. 

Keir Starmer may be gone but the UK's biggest problem remains: the lack of growth in their economy.

Proposed “reform” (read: scrapping) of the “triple lock” restriction on Irish overseas military deployment has run into trouble due to disquiet among Fianna Fail backbenchers. If not a rebellion, there was certainly “a renewed amount of grumbling” over the issue. But will it be a real problem for Taoiseach Micheal Martin? 

Plus the panel pick their IT stories of the week including a plea for underground bins, Michael McDowell’s bold predictions and the divestment of Catholic church patronage.

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Next week Ireland takes over the presidency of the EU Council. But what does that mean? What exactly is the EU Council anyway? How does this council and this presidency fit in among the numerous other European councils and presidents? And how is Ireland going to approach the challenges and opportunities the six-month position brings? To find out Pat Leahy talks to Jack Horgan-Jones and Jack Power.

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Jack Horgan-Jones and Mark Paul join Harry McGee to look back on the week in politics:

·       Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Brussels for the EU summit this week, also in attendance is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy who is pushing for serious peace negotiations with Russia. Will Vladimir Putin come to the negotiation table? And could Ukraine’s EU membership be fast-tracked during Ireland’s upcoming EU presidency?

·       Security, competitiveness and the EU budget are some of the issues that will come into focus as Ireland becomes a deal maker and parks parochial affairs for the duration of its six-month presidency starting July 1st.

·       And with Andy Burnham justifying the hype by crushing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the Makerfield byelection, will prime minister Keir Starmer go quietly or hang around for a leadership battle he stands little chance of winning?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.

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Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia in January 2001, and almost nobody thought that an encyclopedia that anyone in the world was allowed to edit would actually work. But a quarter of a century later, Wikipedia is still one of the most visited websites on Earth and one of the few large-scale online institutions that people across the political spectrum broadly trust.  

In his new book, The Seven Rules of Trust, Wales argues that what made Wikipedia work was a set of principles encompassing human nature, reciprocity, purpose, civility, independence and transparency.

He joins Hugh to talk about where Wikipedia came from, what those principles are and whether they offer any way out of the crisis of trust that is currently shaping politics across the democratic world. 

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Cormac McQuinn and Harry McGee join Hugh to discuss the week in politics:

The disorder in Northern Ireland since a knife attack in Belfast on Monday reached levels not seen since “the worst possible days of the Troubles”, the Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable Jon Boutcher said. In a society with a history of sectarianism, there are complex layers to the events taking place.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill won her battle with the Rotunda Hospital this week.

The Football Association of Ireland has confirmed that Ireland’s Nations League clash with Israel on October 4th will be played at a neutral venue and behind closed doors.

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times stories of the week. 

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In a new book coauthored with fellow political scientists, UCD’s Aidan Regan argues that the three goals of democracy, economic growth and effective climate action are at odds with one another, and that the resulting “trilemma” requires novel political solutions to solve. 

On today's podcast Aidan talks to Hugh about why it is so difficult to balance these goals and potential solutions.

They also discuss why effective climate action should be linked to improved standards of living, not increased costs; whether regulations are really to blame for our failure to deliver infrastructure and housing; how China manages to achieve economic growth while leading in the transition to green technology; and whether “degrowth” is a realistic path to sustainability or a political impossibility. 

The New Trilemma of Advanced Capitalism: Democracy, Growth and Effective Climate Action by Aidan Regan, Hanna Schwander, Cyril Benoît and Tim Vlandas is available now. 

Aidan Regan is a professor of political economy at the school of politics and international relations at University College Dublin

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For a special crossover episode of Inside Politics Hugh Linehan welcomes US podcaster Galen Druke, the host of GD Politics and formerly of the FiveThirtyEight politics podcast, for a discussion of the Irish and US political scenes. They cover topics including:

They also talk about the fate of FiveThirtyEight, a popular website and podcast that was eventually shuttered after being acquired by ABC News. 

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Pat Leahy and Ellen Coyne join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has come out this week to demand the Rotunda maternity hospital withdraw permission for consultants on public-only contracts to practise privately on its premises. If not, it could have its funding pulled.

·       An investigation by Swedish tax authorities alleges that Oligarch and Vladimir Putin associate Oleg Deripaska, who is under EU sanctions over his role in supporting the invasion of Ukraine, still controls Rusal, the company that owns the Co Limerick industrial plant Aughinish Alumina.

·       And an explosive interview from Michael Healy-Rae on Radio Kerry detailed how he was “pulled overboard” by his brother and fellow Independent TD Danny, resulting in him resigning his position as minister of state. Could the rift see the brothers run against each other in the next general election?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       The joy of your first World Cup, the Leaving Cert is a tough but valuable experience, and Andy Burnham’s byelection test in a Reform stronghold.

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Pat joins Hugh after interviewing Fianna Fáil's Darragh O'Brien about major issues related to his twin ministries, Transport and Climate, Energy and the Environment. They listen back to the interview and discuss what O'Brien had to say about a new scrappage scheme to encourage the purchase of EVs, Ireland's certain failure to hit its legally-binding emissions targets in 2030 and the financial cost to the state of that failure.

They also discuss data centres and the future of Fianna Fail's leadership after a disappointing showing in the recent byelections.

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Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       The left-wing alliance that was formed during Catherine Connolly’s presidential campaign is already straining, with the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit concerned with the policy direction of Sinn Féin on issues like migration and reproductive rights.

·       Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins was not impressed by left-leaning voters neglecting to supply party candidate Noel Thomas with enough transfers to prevail in the recent Galway West byelection. Perhaps those voters did not want to give Thomas a preference given his far from left-leaning stance on immigration.

·       The omission of services from the Occupied Territories Bill, which targets Israeli imports produced from Palestinian lands, came as a surprise to no one. After many months of mulling it over, the Taoiseach was accused by Opposition parties of reneging on promises to prohibit all trade with settlements. Government can expect many calls for amendments when it is brought to Oireachtas in the coming weeks.

·       And the building of one-off rural housing could become easier with plans to relax the rules for rural housing, aimed at allowing for increased supply, expected to be brought to Cabinet next month.

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RTÉ has been in the news again lately thanks to renewed controversy over payments to presenters. So it is a timely moment for the release of a new book on the institution. RTÉ: Saints, Scholars, and Scandals is the latest work by former TD, minister and journalist Shane Ross, who brings his dual experience of media and politics to bear on this unwieldy subject.

He talks to Hugh about the deep roots of RTÉ's structural problems, Fianna Fáil's dominance of RTÉ throughout its history (exemplified by Gay Byrne's cozy relationship with Charles Haughey) and the damaging recent scandals over payments and governance.

He tells Hugh the frustration politicians feel over negative coverage is the reason cash-strapped RTÉ has not enjoyed a licence fee increase since 2008.

Ross also talks about how illness (he is recovering from throat cancer) derailed the book for a few years.

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Journalist and author Helen Lewis has built a reputation for sharp analysis of politics, culture and the forces reshaping public life.

In one piece for The Atlantic she unpicks policies, and the figures promoting them, arguing against some rights for women.

On today’s podcast Helen tells Hugh about influential figures who would once have been considered “fringe” coming to the fore.

She explains why questions around women’s rights and gender identity have become so politically explosive, and how media and politics have become entangled in a cycle of outrage and performance.

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Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh to talk about the results of the Dublin Central and Galway West byelections: 

As the day began Fine Gael were confident that their man, Senator Sean Kyne, would win the seat. That confidence wavered a little as Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas picked up significant transfers throughout the morning. In the end it wasn’t enough and Fine Gael leader Tanaiste Simon Harris was celebrating a rare byelection win for a party in power. But is he right to call it “a victory for centrist politics”? 

Independent Ireland can be encouraged by Noel Thomas’s performance in Galway West. 

Fine Gael and Social Democrats are the winners on this occasion. But can they turn these victories into long-term success? 

There was evidence of “vote left, transfer left” behaviour in Galway. But many of Sinn Féin’s voters gave their second preferences to Independent Ireland rather than Labour or Social Democrats. 

Fianna Fáil were the other big losers in this campaign. But how much do these byelections, both won by strong local candidates, really tell us about the strength of the party nationwide?

Should the counting of votes take so long? Hugh and Pat think not, but Harry McGee dissents. 

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A picture is emerging in the byelection counts. Hugh is joined by Pat Leahy, Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones to discuss what we have learned so far:

On the basis of the numbers available on Saturday afternoon, Social Democrats councillor Daniel Ennis and Fine Gael senator Sean Kyne look well placed to take seats in Dublin Central and Galway West respectively. But transfers could still shift result in Galway West where Independent Ireland's Noel Thomas is polling strongly.

The anti-establishment vote in Dublin Central has grown significantly with strong showings from both Gerry Hutch and Malachy Steenson.

Sinn Féin's apparent failure to top the poll in either constituency is a bad result for the leader of the opposition Mary Lou McDonald.

The results are even worse for Fianna Fáil, with its showing in Dublin Central, once a party stronghold, likely to be of particular concern to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

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Pat Leahy and Naomi O’Leary join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       Taoiseach Micheál Martin arrived in Italy on Friday, meeting Pope Leo in the Vatican and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome. This is part of a round of meetings with leaders ahead of Ireland’s EU presidency starting in July, with Martin meeting French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday. An estimated 270 meetings with senior politicians are scheduled for the duration of Ireland’s EU presidency, expect a lot of traffic disruption around Dublin Castle.

·       Naomi O’Leary has been covering the taoiseach’s tour, where he has been keen to highlight the mistreatment of Gaza aid flotilla activists detained by Israeli forces. Could this, coupled with the slowdown in humanitarian aid into Gaza and the continued killing and displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank, finally spark the EU into placing sanctions on Israel?

·       And record rent surges in the first quarter of 2026. There was a 4.4 per cent increase between December and March as the Government’s new rent control system came into effect.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Arsenal end 22-year wait for title win, the tragic death of Yves Sakila, and the issues foreign investment presents for Ireland.

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Cormac McQuinn and Harry McGee join Hugh for a final look at the Dublin Central and Galway West byelections before voting takes place on Friday.

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Economist and author Sinead O'Sullivan ruffled some feathers recently with her analysis of Ireland’s deficits in infrastructure and services. Her critiques of the State’s failure to deliver things that are taken for granted in other similarly wealthy countries sparked debate and drew pushback from figures including former taoiseach Leo Varadkar. 

On today’s Inside Politics podcast she talks to Hugh about how her professional background in designing complex systems made it “ impossible for me not to see” the flaws she identifies in the Irish model. She argues that Ireland lacks strong institutions capable of separating long-term delivery from electoral politics, resulting in costly, short-term fixes. 

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Jack Horgan-Jones and Mark Paul join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       The findings of the Irish Times and TG4 by Ipsos B&A poll throws up some interesting permutations for the Dublin Central byelection. Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan leads the first preference vote at 21 per cent, Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats is in second place on 18 per cent, but as Jack explains, ‘second preference intention’ could be vital for both.

·       It is now a question of when and not if for Keir Starmer after disastrous local and parliamentary election results prompted a slew of Labour MPs to call on the prime minister to resign. A defiant speech on Monday did little to inspire party members as Starmer vowed to fight any leadership challenge. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has been given a route to challenge Starmer following Josh Simons’ decision to step down as MP for Makerfield.

·       And speaking to The Irish Times on Wednesday, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern addressed his recent comments on immigration, made while out on a canvass last week in Dublin Central. And while no apology was forthcoming, he did point out that he had “no problem with people from the Congo or Africa or anywhere else. I’ve good friends around Drumcondra, there’s a lot of the clergy in from Africa.” Could this controversy overshadow Fianna Fáil’s Ard Fheis taking place today and tomorrow as the party marks its 100th year in existence?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       One Dublin mother’s 14-year wait for a bigger council house, the challenges for Ireland of a Reform-led UK government, and how difficult it has become for Irish diaspora to return home.

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The Irish Times and TG4 by Ipsos B&A poll shows Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan leads the byelection race in Dublin Central with first preference votes at 21 per cent, Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats is in second place on 18 per cent. But Ennis will be in line for a lot of transfers from the fragmented left-wing vote, with Labour, People Before Profit and the Green Party all having candidates in the race. 

Veteran criminal Gerry Hutch is running in third place on 14 per cent, growing his vote from 9 percent in the last general election. Could his transfers play an important role for Boylan’s path to victory?

And Fianna Fáil’s John Stephens is way back in the field on 4 per cent. His cause won’t have been helped by Bertie Ahern’s comments on immigration, captured while the former taoiseach was out on a byelection canvass last week. The poll shows immigration trails cost-of-living and housing as an issue for voters ahead of election day on May 22nd.

Produced by John Casey.

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With just over a week until two by elections, host Hugh Linehan unpicks the race for Dublin Central in today’s Inside Politics.

Political Correspondents Jack Horgan-Jones and Cormac McQuinn reflect on then race so far, and which candidates will benefit most from those critical transfers.

Ahead of Irish Times polling for the consistence to be published on Thursday, where are the battlegrounds? And what are the issues on which they will be won and lost?

Produced by Andrew McNair and Declan Conlon. 

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In the week of Fianna Fail’s centenary Hugh and Pat are joined by reporter and historian Ronan McGreevy to trace the party’s origins and assess its legacy. 

Ronan explains how in 1926, with frustration growing at Sinn Féin’s ineffectiveness, Éamon de Valera and allies such as Seán Lemass formed Fianna Fáil, rapidly building hundreds of cumainn. He looks at how the party first entered the Dáil, helped create a two-party system and ultimately won power. 

The discussion also covers the party’s catch-all pragmatism, recent history of compromise with Fine Gael, and its mixed legacy of ties to corruption along with a commitment to democracy and state institutions.

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Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       The findings of the Irish Times/TG4 opinion poll onfirst preference votes, carried out by Ipsos B&A, suggests three leading candidates in the Galway West byelection. It shows Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) at 17 per cent followed by Noel Thomas (Independent Ireland Party) on 16 per cent and Helen Ogbu (Labour) on 12 per cent.

·       In Dublin Central, candidate and veteran criminal Gerry Hutch rejected claims that recent comments he made about immigrants were racist. In a social media post on Sunday Hutch said, “illegal immigrants”, including Somalis, who were “mooching” their way into the country, should be interned in the Curragh.

·       And Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton’s recent confirmation that her department is facing a deficit of more than €500 million this year was dwarfed by the HSE’s decision to pause recruitment in non-frontline roles across significant parts of the country due to a projected €1 billion overspend this year.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Mark Paul on nationalist-led administrations running Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Finn McRedmond is not a fan of ‘grotty’ Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, and Donald Trump’s boundless appetite for self‑memorialisation. 

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Hugh Linehan hosts a live Inside Politics show in Galway’s Róisín Dubh with Pat Leahy, Ellen Coyne and Galway native Harry McGee ahead of the May 22nd Galway West byelection. Harry, fresh from his day of shadowing candidates on the canvass, profiles the constituency and what influences are at play in this huge electoral area, which spans urban, rural and Gaeltacht districts. The Irish Times politics team outlines why byelections are hard to predict, who the key candidates are, and what dynamics might shape the race; from Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas and the lingering impact of the fuel protests to the “vote left, transfer left” pact and Catherine Connolly’s influence. They also consider whether government candidates can break the usual byelection pattern, the Social Democrats’ momentum, and what the result could signal about longer-term shifts in Irish politics. Hugh also fields questions from our live audience, some of whom have travelled from as far away as Dundee in Scotland.

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Ellen Coyne and Pat Leahy join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       There are now 14 candidates confirmed as running in Dublin Central and 17 candidates in Galway West in the upcoming byelections on May 22nd. And while it looks like a tussle between those representing centre-left parties in the capital, Independent Ireland councillor Noel Thomas already looks to be the frontrunner in Galway West.

·       Sinn Féin are hopeful of a byelection win in leader Mary Lou McDonald’s own constituency of Dublin Central, not least because of reported unrest, albeit privately, over the party’s future direction under McDonald’s leadership.

·       And the Government announced this week that it will begin a six-month process of withdrawing tourist and commercial accommodation housing up to 16,000 Ukrainians here from August, coupled with the winding down of the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme which will see the €600 monthly payment to hosts reducing to €400 in September and ceasing next March. What impact will this have on homeless figures and the number of integrated Ukrainians leaving the country?

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Gerry Hutch in sunny Lanzarote, the Ukrainian grandfathers fighting on the front line, and online misogynistic abuse thrives and proliferates. 

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Fintan O’Toole talks to Hugh Linehan about Fianna Fáil as the party’s 100th birthday draws near. Fintan credits the party with helping create a vibrant Irish middle class - if only by accident. But in recent decades the party has undermined that legacy, he says, through short-sighted, reactionary politics and especially through its approach to home ownership. 

They also discuss the recent fuel protests. 

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Hugh is joined by Irish Times Washington correspondent Keith Duggan to talk about the dramatic events at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, where an intrusion by a gunman interrupted what was supposed to be president Donald Trump's first appearance at the annual event where the worlds of politics, media and celebrity socialise. 

They then talk about Trump's complicated and contradictory relationship with the media: his contempt for mainstream outlets, his hunger for their approval and his administration's pivot to podcasters and social media influencers during the 2024 campaign.

In part two they look at the evolution of conservative media figure Tucker Carlson and his recent public break with Trump over the Iran conflict. 

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       The posters are going up, and candidates are preparing their pitch, but could Sinn Féin come up empty-handed in both the Dublin Central (party leader Mary Lou McDonald’s constituency) and Galway West byelection when the votes are counted on May 23rd? And does a vote against Government no longer mean a vote for the republican party?

·       Given how many prominent Irish politicians retire and become silent, perhaps former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s unguarded opinions should be viewed as refreshing. The recent release of his book Speaking My Mind and various podcast contributions point to someone unafraid to give their unvarnished opinion.

·       And President Catherine Connolly made her first trip overseas, attending the Defence of Democracy conference in Spain. Traditionalists might argue her first visit abroad should have been to meet another head of state.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Michael Jackson in Cork and the 10-year-old at his hotel, the ascent of Green Party leader Zack Polanski, and the cultural obsession with the 1990s.

Correction: In the course of a conversation about the aftermath of the fuel protests, Hugh Linehan said that carbon tax is applied pro rata to the price of fuel. That is not correct. Carbon tax, as the name suggests, is calculated on the carbon emissions of a fuel, not the price. Therefore price fluctuations do not affect the rate of carbon tax which is charged.

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The country is moving on from the protests that dominated the national discussion over Easter, even as what the protests actually meant continues to generate debate.

Leo Varadkar poured more fuel on the fire by telling rural dwellers that, far from them being the backbone that holds up the country, it is their city cousins who pay all the bills. Could these events mark the start of deeper urban-rural divide in politics? It seems very possible the protests will be looked back on as an important step in Ireland’s political evolution, wherever that leads.

Today Hugh is joined by UCD political economy lecturer Michael Byrne and political correspondent Ellen Coyne to talk about what the events of April 2026 have revealed about Irish society, Irish politics and how Irish people look at democracy, protest and the urban-rural divide. 

You can read Michael Byrne’s Substack blog on housing here. 

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Cormac McQuinn and Pat Leahy join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       There were renewed questions about the future of Micheál Martin’s leadership in the aftermath of the fuel protests and the resignation of former Independent minister Michael Healy-Rae from Government. Fianna Fáil TDs James O'Connor, Ryan O’Meara and Albert Dolan outlined their “real and deep concern” with the Government’s response to the protests in a statement on Wednesday. However, any momentum behind a challenge to Martin had faded by Thursday night as Fianna Fáil Ministers and TDs rallied behind him.

·       Another consequence of the Government’s response to the fuel protests has been the potential impact on Fianna Fáil’s relationship with rural Ireland. Will Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan’s announcement last week that the Army was being called in to clear fuel protest blockades come back to haunt the party?

·       And President Catherine Connolly will meet her Council of State next Monday to consider the constitutionality of the recently passed International Protection Bill.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       US vice-president JD Vance takes issue with Pope Leo, excitement builds (mainly Pat’s) ahead of the Munster senior hurling championship, and how Irish energy prices compare amid the shock to oil and gas prices.

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Hugh, Pat and Ellen are joined by columnist Gerard Howlin to talk about a tumultuous day in Leinster House that capped a terrible week for the governing coalition:

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All agree that the scale of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s defeat in yesterday’s general election is hugely significant, for Hungary, Europe and beyond. But what exactly does the result mean? To find out Hugh talks to two journalists covering Hungarian affairs, Daniel Nolan and Ivan Nagy. They discuss how Orbán's populist playbook ran out of steam, why JD Vance's recent visit backfired and why Hungary now faces a painful economic reckoning. 

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week, including the nuances of court reporting, Paris’s anti-Emily in Paris movement and the childlike wonder inspired by the Artemis mission to the Moon. 

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In the final instalment of our series on Labour’s time in government from 2011 to 2016, things get darker as it becomes clear economic progress will not be enough for voters to forgive the party for its role in austerity.

Labour’s poor showing in the 2014 local and European elections leads to a change at the top. But Joan Burton’s leadership does not revive Labour’s fortunes.

Then, when the disenchanted take to the streets to oppose water charges, the scale of public anger becomes clear - and much of it is still directed at Labour.

To wrap up the story, Pat and Hugh talk about the roads not travelled. Could Labour have avoided its 2016 general election wipeout, a political setback it has struggled to recover from ever since?

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Inside Politics is coming to Galway in May for a live recording. Get your ticketshere.

In part two of this three-part series on Labour's harrowing experience in government from 2011 to 2016, Pat Leahy and Hugh Linehan follow the story of the first three years of that austerity-delivering coalition.

As punishing budget after punishing budget was delivered, Labour struggled to retain its political identity and principles while working with Fine Gael to present a united front to a world that saw Ireland as an economic basket case. Successes - exiting the EU-IMF bailout programme, securing legislation on abortion - are completely overshadowed by the harshness of austerity. For Labour and its party leader Eamon Gilmore, the political damage mounts.

Listen to part one here.

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When Labour came to power in 2011 Ireland was in the depths of an economic crisis that had several more years to run. Their coalition with Fine Gael spent the next five years struggling to fix the economy while satisfying the EU and the IMF, who had bailed us out.

But it was Labour, led by Eamon Gilmore to its greatest ever number of seats in that election, who bore the brunt of voter frustration over the deep cutsLinehanx increases that the government then imposed. The party was decimated in the next election and voters, particularly of the working class, never fully trusted the party again. 

So why did Labour get the blame? Could Gilmore and Joan Burton, who succeeded him in 2014, have done things differently? In this series Pat Leahy and Hugh Linehan relive the fateful events and decisions of that era and, a decade on, take a fresh look back at Labour’s collapse. 

In episode one they look at Eamon Gilmore, how Labour fought the 2011 election, the formation of the coalition with Fine Gael, how one of Labour’s key promises to voters was abandoned without a fight, and how the seeds of future trouble were sown with Labour's top brass taking on some of the trickiest ministries. 

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Oliver Sears, founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, joins Hugh to talk about his growing alarm at the rise of anti-Semitism in Ireland and what he sees as the failure to take it seriously. They discuss whether the political response to Israel's actions since October 7th 2023 has complicated that debate.

The conversation covers questions such as where legitimate criticism of Israel ends and anti-Semitism begins, whether anti-Zionism can be distinguished from antisemitism, and what Ireland's institutions should be doing differently.

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This week the Government decided to unveil a €250 million package to help citizens meet the elevated cost of fuel. And this could be just the start of a series of new efforts to keep down the cost of living. After ending such supports in the last Budget, it seems there is a limit to the Government’s ability to resist helping when times get tough and the money is there. But what will happen when a crisis coincides with tougher fiscal times? 

The renewed threat of inflation is having an impact across the economic and political landscape. Inflation means unpredictable costs and that is especially bad for one key area.

Other Government departments will be asked to bail out the Department of Education, which is facing another large budget overspend this year. Will this request brew inter-departmental strife? 

Our population is growing and our constitution stipulates there should be at least one TD for every 30,000 people. Should that rule be changed before we end up with excessive numbers of Deputies? Maybe - but a referendum on the issue is unlikely under this Government. 

Plus the panel pick their favourite Irish Times articles of the week, including Newton Emerson on an issue uniting left and right in Belfast, Big Tech’s Big Tobacco moment and Malachy Clerkin’s report on Ireland’s heartbreaking loss against Czech Republic. 

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Seán Lemass is remembered as the man who changed Ireland.

Several opinion polls have noted Lemass as the country's most admired taoiseach.

He never left any papers of autobiography, but rather twenty-two hours of private interviews.

Hugh speaks to Irish Times reporter Ronan McGreevy who has gathered these lost interviews and collated them into a memoir in Lemass's own words.

Produced by JJ Vernon and Andrew McNair.

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Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (of which Fine Gael is a member), and an occasional contributor to the opinion pages of The Irish Times, where he is often critical of Ireland’s approach to Europe. 

Recently he wrote that “Ireland’s recent hissy fit at not being invited to a pre-EU summit meeting in Belgium speaks volumes as to where Dublin ranks in the minds of our fellow EU members”. 

On today’s podcast he talks to Hugh about how Ireland’s influence in Europe has declined, why he believes Ireland’s political discourse around Europe is naive and lacking strategic depth and what “two-speed” EU development could look like - with or without Ireland as a key player. He also talks about how Ireland is viewed as being "in the pocket of the US multinationals".

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Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       Israeli strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure marked an escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran. With global oil and gas prices climbing, could we soon see Government measures to offset the cost to consumers?

·       Opposition parties were less than impressed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s showing during his St Patrick’s Day meeting with US president Donald Trump, but the world’s media praised Martin’s polite pushback on certain points.

·       The demolition of an illegally-built Co Meath home has captured the public imagination this week. It has served to highlight the urban-rural divide when it comes to one-off housing during the current housing crisis.

·       And the monthly payments to those housing Ukrainian people in their spare rooms will be wound down over the coming year.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Ronnie Delaney’s Olympic gold medal win inspires Frank McNally to victory, the generational talent of Oscar winner Jessie Buckley, and the enduring fascination around JFK jnr.

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Taoiseach Michel Martin has been meeting US president Donald Trump as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day pageantry. Martin once again faced the challenge of outlining Ireland’s positions on issues from tariffs to wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran while maintaining his personal dignity and without antagonising Trump to Ireland's detriment. It was no easy task, with the US president criticising UK prime minister Keir Starmer, attacking Europe on its migration and energy policies and misgendering President Catherine Connolly. So how did Martin do? Pat Leahy reports from Washington.

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Ellen Coyne and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s St Patrick’s Day visit to The White House to meet US president Donald Trump could prove awkward should he face questions about the US and Israel’s military action against Iran, and its impact on the Middle East, Gulf regions and soaring fuel prices. Last year’s meeting was a minefield to be navigated – perhaps Martin has learned from that experience.

·       A far less fraught meeting took place on Friday when the Taoiseach welcomed Britain's prime minister Keir Starmer to the UK-Ireland summit at Fota House in Cork. Security and co-operation were the order of the day, as Anglo-Irish relations continued to improve from a post-Brexit low.

·       And the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided this week, after a mere fifteen years, not to bring criminal charges against anyone arising from the Moriarty tribunal’s final report in 2011. Michael Lowry and Denis O’Brien no doubt welcomed the decision.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       The brave and anonymous women we all owe a debt, the beef between farmers and Government, and Patrick Freyne’s golden age of male role models.

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As war in the Middle East rages on, the world's superpowers are making diplomatic representations to end it, and contingencies to protect their economies from the knock-on effects, namely oil and natural gas prices.

China, which buys oil from Iran, would rather the conflict hadn’t begun and would like to see it concluded, according to Irish Times Beijing correspondent Denis Staunton. However its reliance on foreign oil is small in comparison to other nations.

On today's podcast Hugh is joined by Denis and Political Editor Pat Leahy who says European governments, including Ireland, have a much greater problem with the volatility of the energy markets.

The Irish government was one of the few incumbent European governments that was re-elected after the volatility brought on by the war in Ukraine. How will European politicians handle the Iran war challenge?

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The Irish-American experience fitted seamlessly into the story of the United States as a “nation of immigrants”. In the Trump era that narrative has fallen out of favour. Family ties are weakening over time and the old political associations are changing too. So where does that leave our relationship with the 38.5 million Americans who ticked “Irish” in the last US census? 

On today’s Inside Politics podcast Professor Liam Kennedy talks to Hugh Linehan about how Irish American identity has changed over the decades, how traces of it persist through popular culture and the contrast between the liberalism of Joe Biden and the nationalism of Steve Bannon. They also discuss the "soft power" of the Irish-American relationship, as exemplified by the shamrock ceremony that takes place next week in Washington, and whether it too is on the wane.

Professor Liam Kennedy is director of the Clinton Institute for American Studies at University College Dublin.

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Naomi O’Leary and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       After six days of US-Israeli attacks on Iran, the conflict is escalating and has spread to Lebanon which has experienced sustained airstrikes from Israel. Iran has vowed to continue targeting Gulf countries having fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The US has entered into a conflict with no clear focus or potential resolution. Trump’s demands on social media for an ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran seem like wishful thinking at this point.

·       Irish consumers are already feeling the consequences of the conflict in the Middle East as the average cost of 500 litres of home heating oil was put at just under €800 on Thursday, an increase of nearly 60 per cent in less than a week. The Government was quick to react, asking the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to launch an immediate investigation of domestic suppliers here.

·       And research into last year’s presidential election by the Electoral Commission threw up some interesting results, not least that almost half of those who spoiled their vote, more than 12 per cent of the total ballot, did so because they didn’t like any of the candidates.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:

·       Horse manure sparks tension in the Liberties, mobile phones can be ageing over time, and does an arts degree retain any value these days?

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While the world’s attention is focused on the Middle East, Inside Politics looks at the US sphere of influence on Cuba, which is facing ever tightening economic sanctions.

Cuban governments have survived attempts to overthrow it by multiple US administrations going all the way back to Dwight Eisenhower following the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959.

Over the decades, Cuban governments have managed to survive crippling economic sanctions largely because of its allies in the region, namely Venezuela.

In recent weeks, the US Navy has amassed a huge number of vessels in the Caribbean Sea to stop oil imports to Cuba, and the US government has threatened sanctions on Mexico if it tries to deliver oil to the island. 

But why now? And what impact will it have on the Cuban government, and on the lives of the people there.

The journalist Hannah McCarthy travelled to Cuba to find out.

“What we’re seeing is just a grinding halt of daily life” she said.

“Buses not running. Rolling blackouts that were already happening before are increasing" and "people's lives have contracted to finding food or running water".

"Cuban's are fed up" she added.

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Denis Staunton, author of The Irish Times Global Briefing newsletter on international affairs, joins Hugh to talk about the escalating war in the Middle East. They talk about how Iran gradually lost its status as a regional heavyweight, America's unchecked and unrivalled military power, the shift under Trump to a strategy of decapitation when dealing with enemies, the potential economic fallout from Iran's strikes on Gulf states, potential scenarios for a post-war Iran and Europe's timid response to America's breach of international law.

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Ellen Coyne and Cormac McQuinn join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

·       In the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin issued an apology on behalf of the State to survivors of abuse in industrial and reformatory schools. Nobody doubts the sincerity of such apologies, but given the number of them over the years, perhaps their rhetoric should be matched with the practicalities and supports survivors need.

·       With the Residential Tenancies Bill comes into effect from March 1st, Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty was accused of “scaremongering and misinformation” by Tánaiste Simon Harris in the Dáil on Thursday. Doherty pointed to research carried out by I-Res Reit, the State’s largest corporate landlord, which suggested a potential increase in rent returns of up to 25 per cent resulting from the new rent rules. The new rules are designed to attract new investors into the rental property sector, and what could be more attractive than charging higher rents?

·       The glacial speed at which vital infrastructure projects such as the Greater Dublin Drainage Project are delivered here could be accelerated by the establishment of a new Infrastructure Regulatory Simplification Unit in Minister for Public Expenditure and Infrastructure Jack Chambers’s department.

·       And the upcoming byelections in Dublin Central and Galway West, with seats vacated by Paschal Donohoe and Catherine Connolly respectively, are looking increasingly hard to call.

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Campaigner Maria Steen, whose failed bid to launch a run for the presidency last year put the spotlight on the nominations process, talks to Hugh and Ellen Coyne about that campaign. She talks about whether she could have won had she got that nomination and why not enough councils supported her.

She also talks about Catherine Connolly's first 100 days in office, why she is uncomfortable with the labels 'conservative' and 'right wing' and whether Catholicism is a hindrance to taking part in public life.

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